After a rough start to the week, both Thompson Falls boys and girls basketball teams rebounded for a win to wrap up their regular season schedule as the playoffs have arrived.

Both teams began their week with games against the Western 7B conference leaders in the Bigfork Valkyries and Vikings.

The Lady Hawks started their journey toward the playoffs with a 72-41 loss to Bigfork, the unbeaten, top-ranked team that has now beaten Thompson Falls twice this season. Going into the playoffs, the Valkyries hold the number one District seed, while despite a pair of conference losses this past week, the Lady Hawks maintained the number two seed.

Thompson Falls’ girls also fell to third place and number three seed St. Ignatius’ Lady Bulldogs 54-53 and stand 8-3 in conference play, while the Lady Bulldogs finished 7-4.

The Lady Hawks closed out their week with a non-conference 57-48 win over Seeley-Swan, which is now 14-3 on the year.

Thompson Falls earned a first round bye in the 7B playoffs, which begin with a pair of playoff games this Tuesday (Feb 14) in Eureka. They will take on the winner of the match-up between St. Ignatius and Troy this Thursday.

The T Falls boys came through the week with an identical 1-2 mark against the same teams. The Blue Hawks opened the week Thursday losing to regular season league champion Bigfork 60-32 in Thompson Falls. They then fell to St. Ignatius, also in Thompson Falls this past Friday by a 68-61 score.

And like the girls, the Blue Hawks got back on the winning track Saturday, their third straight home contest, when they downed Seeley-Swan’s boys 53-50.

Saturday night the Blue Hawks rode the game high 22 points scored by Jesse Claridge to victory of the visiting Blackhawks. Seeley took a slim 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter, only to see the host team come back in the second period on their way to a 28-22 halftime lead.

That lead changed hands in the third quarter as the Blackhawks outscored T Falls 18-13 to cut the Blue Hawks lead to 41-40 with one quarter to play.

Thompson Falls managed to hold off the 11-6 visitors and emerge with the three-point win.

In addition to Claridge’s 22, the Hawks got 12 from sophomore forward Bryson LeCoure. Seeley had four players score in low double figures, paced by Nic Little’s 13.

The win over Seeley came a night after the Hawks saw their second half rally fall short against St. Ignatius. The boys from the Mission had taken a 25-13 lead at the end of the first quarter, then padded that lead by 10 in the second period to make it 44-22 in their favor at the half.

Thompson Falls came out and trimmed four points off the lead in the third quarter, then outscored the guests by 11 over the final eight minutes of play but it was not enough to overcome the big early deficit. The Bulldogs’ sharp-shooting Zoran LaFrombois led all scorers with 31 points, while Claridge’s 17 topped the Hawks scoring list.

T Falls began their three-game week with a lopsided loss to regular season champ Bigfork, also in Thompson Falls. The Vikings outscored the Blue Hawks 14-2 in the first quarter, then added nine points to their lead in the second period to go up 27-6 at halftime. From there Bigfork maintained its early lead and cruised to the 7B conference win.

Wyatt Johnson led all scorers with 26 points for the Vikings.

The Thompson Falls girls’ record for the week was nearly identical to that of the boys. After a pair of losses, including the one-point defeat at the hands of the Lady Bulldogs from St. Ignatius, the Lady Hawks turned things around in their final regular season game by beating Seeley-Swan 57-48 in a non-conference match-up in Thompson Falls.

Against the Lady Blackhawks, who came to town with a 14-3 record, the Lady Hawks took an early first quarter lead, then expanded it by one at the half, 27-20.

Seeley came out strong to start the second half, and outscored the host Lady Hawks 17-11 in the third period to cut the T Falls lead to one, 38-37. But the Hawks regrouped in the fourth quarter and outscored the visitors by eight to secure win number 12 on the year.

Senior forward Ellie Baxter led the Lady Hawks with 16 points, while fellow senior Avery Burgess (15 points) and Natalie Roberts (12) also scored in double figures.

Friday evening against St. Ignatius, T Falls jumped out to a 15-7 lead by the end of the first eight minutes of play, but the Lady Bulldogs reduced that lead by four in the second quarter, making it 26-22 in favor of Thompson Falls at the half.

The girls from Mission then outscored the Lady Hawks 13-4 in the third period to take a 35-30 lead going into the final quarter.

Thompson outscored the Lady Bulldogs 23-19 in the final quarter, but the Lady Hawks could not overtake St. Ignatius by the final buzzer.

Baxter paced Thompson Falls with 20 points, while teammate Chesney Lowe chipped in 10. The Lady Bulldogs had five players score in double figures, led by Kason Page’s 12 points.

Much like the T Falls boys, the Lady Hawks ran into a league champ Bigfork team to open their week Thursday. The Valkyries blasted out to a 17-2 lead and never looked back against the Hawks, who lost both conference games against Bigfork during the season. By halftime undefeated Bigfor, at that time 18-0 on the year, had built a 36-12 lead.

They added seven more points to their lead in the second half as they coasted to victory. The Valkyries were led by the 28 points from all-conference forward Braedon Gunlock, while Baxter topped T Falls with 12.

The T Falls boys open District play tonight (Tuesday) versus Plains, with the winner advancing to a 2pm game with top seeded Bigfork Thursday in Eureka.